London- Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Husain appealed to human rights organizations, civil society members and lawyers today to raise their voice against alleged torture on detained party workers.
On Wednesday, Rangers personnel raided the MQM offices in Azizabad area of Karachi acting on an intelligence tip-off that convicted criminals were hiding inside and arrested several suspects. Huge quantity of heavy weapons and ammo were also seized in the raid.
In a telephonic address to the MQM Legal Aid Committee in Karachi, Altaf Hussain said his party backed targeted operation in Karachi but now MQM workers are being victimized in the name of anti-crime action.
He said that Rangers spokesperson did not provide facts regarding arrest of all the suspects from Nine Zero. More than 140 people were detained during the raid whereas the weapons shown to the media were, in fact, brought to Nine Zero by paramilitary troops.
Most of the people were arrested from around the MQM headquarters, he said adding that arrested members include his cousin and nephew Abdul Aziz who are working on top government posts.
Rangers have also detained Nine Zero’s cook and gardener. They are being treated like war prisoners, he added.
The MQM chief once again questioned that why raid was conducted on his widow sister’s house.